


Take my hand and we'll walk into the light

by Shamelessly_Radiant



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Goldgraves if you squint, Hurt/Comfort, Mentor/Protégé, PTSD, Post-Movie(s), but mostly Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-20 04:52:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10655298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shamelessly_Radiant/pseuds/Shamelessly_Radiant
Summary: Tina Goldstein and Percival Graves each went through a lot, and work some of it out together. (Or Percival feels guilt at what he did to Tina, and Tina tells him it wasn't him.)





	Take my hand and we'll walk into the light

When they finally let him out of the clinic, the first thing he does is apparate to the ministry of magic. He needs to see his impostor behind bars, he needs to see what a mess is awaiting him, and he needs to work.

Though he does not expect it, he’s pleased to see Tina Goldstein on his floor. He has been told she is the one that found him; she is one of the few that battled Grindelwald in the Obscurial’s destruction of New York, and has been fully reinstigated as an auror. In that moment, he wonders why he never saw her in the hospital. Maybe she was mad because of her demotion, but she had never given that impression before Grindelwald had taken his place, remaining cordial and kind to him. She knew he had done everything possible to convince Seraphina to not be so harsh, but ultimately had to put his job first. As his former protégée he had expected she’d visit, especially since Seraphina had told him she hadn’t closed an eye in the search for him, and had been the reason they’d found him so quickly.

Graves watches Tina rub her shoulder, and stand up. He watches her come in his direction, and watches her freeze the moment he notices her; straight up _freeze_ and drawback, eyes wide and hand twitching in the direction of the holster in which she normally keeps her wand, the same wand that is still lying on her desk.

He supposes in her time spent as a mere clerk, she’d grown out of the custom of always having a wand on her. Percival opens his mouth to tease her about it, but finally notices it. That’s not surprise in her eyes, that’s _fear._

“Goldstein,” he says, and she snaps out of it, stumbling back and away from him, whimpering “no, please, no”. She falls to the ground, and continues on her knees, crawling.

Graves recognises the signs of a panic attack: how her breathing is quick, uneven, how she’s sweating profusely, how she’s looking around, probably cataloguing all possible escape routes.

He curses, “what did he _do_ to you?” But Tina is not looking at him. She’s found her wand.

Graves curses again, louder. If Tina manages to get that wand, she’ll attack him, no question. They have duelled before, and he has always won, but she is in a state of panic, and there’s no saying how far she’ll go. She’s capable of inflicting serious damage, on him or herself. And it’s too late to hope someone else may still be here, Graves usually finds himself alone in the department at this hour.

He sprints forward just as she stands up, and lands against her legs, knocking her down and away from her desk. She yells, hisses, and her nails rake against his cheek and neck, drawing blood. He raises his hand to the sting on his face, and Tina manages to get away in that split second, lurching towards her desk again.

He takes her ankle, knocking her down. At her pained gasp guilt floods through him, but he is unwilling to use magic on her in this state, knowing it will only alter her more. Quickly he wrestles her to the floor, planting his knees on either side of her hips, sitting back so she can’t bend her legs, and pressing her hands down next to her.

She’s sobbing, struggling against him, but she’s immobile now.

He hushes her, nonsensical noises, and “it’s me, it’s me, Tina, it’s Percival Graves, I’m not Grindelwald, I’m not him, shhh” wondering what he did to her.

Finally she calms down, stops struggling, looking up at him through wet eye lashes: “Sir?”

He chuckles, and gets off her, but watches her closely just in case. Tina just draws her legs up, sucks air in, and starts crying, clutching him. After an awkward second, he wraps his arms around her, feeling the wetness on his shirt and stroking her back through it.

“I’m so sorry,” she’s sobbing, “sorry, sir, sorry, sir.” He presses his hand to the back of her neck until she looks up at him, shaking his head.

“What did I do to you?” he asks gently.

“It wasn’t you, sir.”

“It was,” he says, “if only I’d been stronger, hadn’t let him overpower me- I’m supposed to be Head of Law Enforcement, Director of Magical Security, god damnit, and I couldn’t even fight off-“

“The most powerful dark wizard of all times?” She quips dryly. “It wasn’t your fault, sir.”

And now she’s comforting him while she was the one that had a panic attack, and Percival only feels his guilt mount.

Tina sucks in a breath through her teeth, a hissing sound coming out: “Did I do that?”

Absentmindedly, he raises his hand to press it to the scratches on his cheek. “It’s nothing,” he says, “Tina, please, let me see.”

“It wasn’t you, sir.”

“I need to see,” he whispers, and after a moment, she nods, raising her eyes to meet hers. He delves into her mind immediately, like they have done countless times before, but this time she isn’t trying to block him out, she’s letting him, completely.

 _“Tina, you're always turning up where you're least wanted”-_ _he sees himself sneer down at her, sees him throw a car at her before apparating away. He sees the death sentence, the fight, all the little insults, the killing curse that almost misses her-_

And now he’s the one chorusing _sorry_ over and over, and she’s winding her hand through his hair, whispering “I’m sorry too. I should have known it wasn’t you, right away. But, well, I thought I had disappointed you as your former protégée, proven that I was not worth all the time and effort you had spent on me.”

“Tina.”

She shrugs her slim shoulders, refusing to meet his gaze, and he sees that she still believes it, that she still thinks she’ll never be a good enough auror.

He presses his hand against her cheek, and says, with a hint of his old admonishing tone. “You really should know better, Goldstein.”

And when she smiles and answers “yes, sir,” he presses a kiss to her forehead.

**Author's Note:**

> I'll probably expand this, but wanted to share this already. Leave me a comment?


End file.
